Eriogonum clavellatum
Author: Small


Comb Wash buckwheat


Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Family)

Close up and habitat of Eriogonum clavellatum courtesy of the Colorado Natural Areas Program
Click image to enlarge.

Ranks and Status

Global rank: G2
State rank: S1
Federal protection status: BLM Sensitive
State protection status: None

[+] Description and Phenology

Eriogonum clavellatum: artwork not available

General description:

Look Alikes: Closely related to Eriogonum bicolor (Welsh 1978) and E. pelinophilum.

Phenology: Flowering May-June (Colorado Natural Heritage Program 2012).

[+] Herbarium Photos

Images of Eriogonum clavellatum housed at the Colorado State University Herbarium.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

[+] Habitat

Habitat of Eriogonum clavellatum: not available

This species is found in fine texured soils, sandy silt to clay silt. Dominant plant communities are shadscale and blackbrush associations. Other associated species include Atriplex confertifolia and Coleogyne ramosissma (Welsh 1978).

Elevation Range: 4,813 - 6,033 feet (1,467 - 1,839 meters)

[+] Distribution

Distribution of Eriogonum clavellatum in Colorado according to mapped land ownership/management boundaries (CNHP 2012, COMaP v9 ).
Click image to enlarge.

Distribution of Eriogonum clavellatum in Colorado
Click image to enlarge.

Colorado endemic: No
Global range: This species is known from Utah and Colorado (Welsh et al. 2008). Reported from Arizona and New Mexico in 2013 (Heil et al. 2013).
State range: Known from Montezuma County in Colorado. Estimated range in Colorado is 117 square kilometers (45 square miles), calculated in GIS by drawing a minimum convex polygon around the known occurrences (calculated by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program in 2008).

[+] Threats and Management Issues

Summary results of an analysis of the status of Eriogonum clavellatum based on several ranking factors. This species was concluded to be “Under Conserved”. From Rondeau et al. 2011.
Click image to enlarge.

The primary threat at this time is considered to be oil and gas development (Rondeau et al. 2011). It is not known if all of the occurrences are or are not threatened by these activities. In Colorado, Eriogonum clavellatum is known from Ute Mountain Ute tribal lands in the southwestern corner of Montezuma County. The area has high potential for oil and gas development (BLM 1998). Populations are also threatened by road construction and gas exploration and by an impending system of canals (O'Kane 1988).

[+] References

    • Ackerfield, J. 2012. The Flora of Colorado. Colorado State University Herbarium. 433 pp.
    • Colorado Natural Heritage Program. 2008. The Fifth Annual Colorado Rare Plant Symposium: G2 Plants of Colorado. Symposium Minutes. Available on-line http://www.cnhp.colostate.edu/teams/botany.asp#symposia.
    • Elliott, B. A., S. Spackman Panjabi, B. Kurzel, B. Neely, R. Rondeau, M. Ewing. 2009. Recommended Best Management Practices for Plants of Concern. Practices developed to reduce the impacts of oil and gas development activities to plants of concern. Unpublished report prepared by the Rare Plant Conservation Initiative for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
    • Flora of North America Editorial Committee, ed. (FNA). 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Oxford Univ. Press, New York, Oxford.
    • Flora of North America Editorial Committee. 2005. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Vol. 5. Magnoliophyta: Caryophyllidae: Caryophyllales, Polygonales, and Plumbaginales. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. vii + 656 pp.
    • Heil, K.D., S.L. O'Kane Jr., L.M. Reeves, and A. Clifford, 2013. Flora of the Four Corners Region, Vascular Plants of the San Juan River Drainage; Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, Missouri. 1098 pp.
    • Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
    • Lavender, A.E., M.M. Fink, S.E. Linn, D.M. Theobald. 2011. Colorado Ownership, Management, and Protection v9 Database. Colorado Natural Heritage Program and Geospatial Centroid, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. (30 September).
    • Neely, B., S. Panjabi, E. Lane, P. Lewis, C. Dawson, A. Kratz, B. Kurzel, T. Hogan, J. Handwerk, S. Krishnan, J. Neale, and N. Ripley. 2009. Colorado Rare Plant Conservation Strategy, Developed by the Colorado Rare Plant conservation Initiative. The Nature Conservancy, Boulder, Colorado, 117 pp.
    • O'Kane, S.L. 1988. Colorado's rare flora. Great Basin Naturalist 48(4): 434-484.
    • Reveal, J.L. 1969. A revision of the genus Eriogonum (Polygonacae). Unpublished dissertation, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
    • Rondeau, R., K. Decker, J. Handwerk, J. Siemers, L. Grunau, and C. Pague. 2011. The state of Colorado's biodiversity 2011. Prepared for The Nature Conservancy. Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
    • USDA, NRCS. 2013. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
    • Weber, W. A. and R. C. Wittmann. 2012. Colorado Flora, Western Slope, A Field Guide to the Vascular Plants, Fourth Edition. Boulder, Colorado. 532 pp.
    • Welsh, S.L. 1978. Status Report: Erigonum clavellatum. Unpublished manuscript.
    • Welsh, S.L. 1978. Status Report: Erigonum clavellatum. Unpublished manuscript.
    • Welsh, S.L., N.D. Atwood, S. Goodrich, and L.C. Higgins (eds.) 1993. A Utah flora. 2nd edition. Brigham Young Univ., Provo, Utah. 986 pp.

Last Updated

2013-02-13